Integrated Assemblies and Methods of Forming Integrated Assemblies

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments include an integrated assembly with a semiconductor channel material having a boundary region where a more-heavily-doped region interfaces with a less-heavily-doped region. The more-heavily-doped region and the less-heavily-doped region have the same majority carriers. The integrated assembly includes a gating structure adjacent the semiconductor channel material and having a gating region and an interconnecting region of a common and continuous material. The gating region has a length extending along a segment of the more-heavily-doped region, a segment of the less-heavily-doped region, and the boundary region. The interconnecting region extends laterally outward from the gating region on a side opposite the semiconductor channel region, and is narrower than the length of the gating region. Some embodiments include methods of forming integrated assemblies.

RELATED PATENT DATA

This patent resulted from a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/270,526 filed Feb. 7, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/818,338 which was filed Nov. 20, 2017,which resulted from a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/949,807 which was filed Nov. 23, 2015, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Integrated assemblies and methods of forming integrated assemblies.

BACKGROUND

Memory provides data storage for electronic systems. Flash memory is onetype of memory, and has numerous uses in modern computers and devices.For instance, modern personal computers may have BIOS stored on a flashmemory chip. As another example, it is becoming increasingly common forcomputers and other devices to utilize flash memory in solid statedrives to replace conventional hard drives. As yet another example,flash memory is popular in wireless electronic devices because itenables manufacturers to support new communication protocols as theybecome standardized, and to provide the ability to remotely upgrade thedevices for enhanced features.

NAND may be a basic architecture of integrated flash memory. A NAND cellunit comprises at least one selecting device coupled in series to aserial combination of memory cells (with the serial combination commonlybeing referred to as a NAND string). NAND architecture may be configuredto comprise vertically-stacked memory cells.

The vertically-stacked memory cells may be block-erased by generatinghole carriers beneath them, and then utilizing an electric field tosweep the hole carriers upwardly along the memory cells.

A gating structure of a transistor may be utilized to providegate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) which generates the holes utilized forblock-erase of the memory cells. The transistor may be a select device,such as a source-side select (SGS) device. Difficulties are encounteredin utilizing conventional gating structures as select devices.Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop new gating structures, andnew methods of forming gating structures.

Gating structures may be utilized in other devices besides selectdevices, and it would be desirable for new gating structurearchitectures to be suitable for utilization in other devices besidesselect devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-13 are diagrammatic cross-sectional views of an assembly atvarious process stages of an example method for forming an exampleembodiment gated structure.

FIG. 3A is a top view of the construction of FIG. 3; with thecross-sectional view of FIG. 3 being along the line 3-3 of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of a region of the example embodiment gatedstructure of FIG. 13.

FIGS. 14A and 14B illustrate arrangements alternative to that of FIG.14.

FIGS. 15 and 15A are views of structures alternative to those of FIGS.14, 14A and 14B; and illustrate problematic arrangements that may resultwhen utilizing the alternative structures.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are diagrammatic cross-sectional views of the exampleembodiment gated structure of FIG. 13 incorporated into exampleembodiment integrated assemblies comprising memory.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Some embodiments include new gating structures having a gating regionand an interconnecting region of a common and continuous material. Thegating structures may be provided adjacent semiconductor channelmaterial. The semiconductor channel material may comprise a boundaryregion where a more-heavily-doped region interfaces with aless-heavily-doped region, and the gating region of the gating structuremay have a length which extends across a segment of themore-heavily-doped region, a segment of the less-heavily-doped region,and the boundary region. The gating structures may be suitable forutilization in select device transistors, such as transistors configuredto generate GIDL-induced holes for block erase of memory cells. Thegating structures may also be suitable for other applications. Exampleembodiments are described below with reference to FIGS. 1-17.

Referring to FIG. 1, an assembly (i.e., construction) 10 comprises aconductive structure 12 over a base 14.

The base 14 may comprise semiconductor material; and may, for example,comprise, consist essentially of, or consist of monocrystalline silicon.The base 14 may be referred to as a semiconductor substrate. The term“semiconductor substrate” means any construction comprisingsemiconductive material, including, but not limited to, bulksemiconductive materials such as a semiconductive wafer (either alone orin assemblies comprising other materials), and semiconductive materiallayers (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials). Theterm “substrate” refers to any supporting structure, including, but notlimited to, the semiconductor substrates described above. In someapplications, the base 14 may correspond to a semiconductor substratecontaining one or more materials associated with integrated circuitfabrication. Such materials may include, for example, one or more ofrefractory metal materials, barrier materials, diffusion materials,insulator materials, etc.

The base 14 has an upper surface 15 which extends horizontally in thecross-sectional view of FIG. 1.

A gap is shown between base 14 and conductive structure 12 to indicatethat there may be additional materials between the base 14 and thestructure 12 in some embodiments.

The illustrated conductive structure 12 comprises an upper material 18over a lower material 16. In some embodiments, the lower material 16 maycomprise metal and/or metal-containing material; such as, for example,tungsten silicide. In some embodiments the upper material 18 maycomprise conductively-doped semiconductor material; such as, forexample, conductively-doped silicon. Although the illustrated conductivestructure comprises two materials, in other embodiments the conductivestructure may comprise only a single material, and in yet otherembodiments the conductive structure may comprise more than twomaterials.

The conductive structure 12 may be configured as a line in someembodiments, and may, for example, correspond to a source lineconfigured for utilization in a three-dimensional NAND memory array.

A stack 19 is formed over the heavily-doped semiconductor material 18.The stack 19 includes a first tier 20, a second tier 22, a third tier24, a first level 26 of replaceable material 27, and a fourth tier 28.In some embodiments, the first tier 20, third tier 24, and fourth tier28 may comprise a same composition as one another; such as, for example,silicon dioxide. The second tier 22 may comprise an etch stop material.In some embodiments the second tier 22 may comprise high-k material suchas, for example, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, etc.;with the term high-k meaning a dielectric constant greater than that ofsilicon dioxide. The replaceable material 27 may be electricallyinsulative material; and in some embodiments may comprise, consistessentially of, or consist of silicon nitride.

Referring to FIG. 2, openings 30 are formed to extend through uppermaterials of stack 19 (specifically, through the materials of tiers 24and 28, and through the replaceable material 27) to the etch stopmaterial of the second tier 22. The illustrated openings have taperedsidewalls, but in other embodiments the sidewalls may be non-tapered.

The utilization of etch stop material of tier 22 may enable all ofopenings 30 to be uniformly formed to a same depth as one another.

Referring to FIG. 3, the openings 30 are extended through the etch stopmaterial of tier 22 to expose material of the first tier 20.

The openings 30 may have any suitable shape when viewed from above. Forinstance, FIG. 3A shows a top view of an example embodiment in which theopenings 30 are circular when viewed from above. In other embodiments,the openings may have other shapes when viewed from above; and may, forexample, be elliptical, polygonal, square, rectangular, etc.

Referring to FIG. 4, a second level 32 of replaceable material 27 isformed to extend within openings 30. The replaceable material 27 ofsecond level 32 lines sidewalls and bottoms of openings 30. In the shownembodiment, the replaceable material of second level 32 is a samematerial as the replaceable material of first level 26. Accordingly, thefirst and second levels 26 and 32 merge together. In some embodiments,the replaceable material 27 of levels 26 and 32 may comprise, consistessentially of, or consist of silicon nitride.

Referring to FIG. 5, the replaceable material 27 of the second level 32is anisotropically etched to form spacers 34 along sidewalls of openings30, and to expose bottom surfaces of the openings along the first tier20. Subsequently, exposed material of the first tier is removed toextend the openings to the heavily-doped semiconductor material 18.

The replaceable material 27 within spacers 34 and first level 26 isconfigured as replaceable material structures 36. The replaceablematerial structures have vertical trunk regions 38 (corresponding to thespacers 34), and stem regions 40 extending horizontally outward from thevertical trunk regions. In the illustrated embodiment, the verticaltrunk regions are slanted from being absolutely vertical due to thetapered sidewalls of openings 30. In other embodiments, the sidewalls ofthe openings may be less tapered, and the vertical trunk regions may beless slanted, or even absolutely vertical (to within reasonabletolerances of fabrication and measurement). Similarly, the horizontalstem regions 40 may be slanted in some embodiments, and may beabsolutely horizontal (to within reasonable tolerances of fabricationand measurement) in some embodiments.

The second level 32 may be formed to be less than or equal to athickness of the first level 26 in some embodiments. In laterprocessing, replaceable material of levels 26 and 32 is replaced withconductive material (such replacement is described with reference toFIG. 13). The conductive material may flow along the horizontal stemregions 40 and into the vertical trunk regions 38. If the trunk regionsare too thick as compared to the stem regions, there may be inconsistentreplacement of material in the trunk regions with the conductivematerial which may lead to inconsistent performance across a pluralityof devices. Accordingly, it may be desired to keep the thickness of thetrunk regions 38 less than or equal to the thickness of the stem regions40 in order to achieve desired uniform filling of the trunk regionsduring the flow of conductive material into such trunk regions.

Although there appear to be two separate spacers 34 along opposingsidewalls of each of the openings 30 in the cross-sectional view of FIG.5, in actuality such spacers may be part of an annulus that extendsentirely around the closed shape of the opening when viewed from above(with example closed shapes of the openings being shown in the top viewof FIG. 3A).

The exposed surfaces of trunk regions 38 may comprise silicon nitride.In some embodiments, such exposed surfaces may be oxidized utilizingexposure to steam or other suitable oxidant.

Referring to FIG. 6, gate dielectric 42 is formed to extend intoopenings 30. The gate dielectric extends across material of tier 28between the openings, extends along the bottoms of the openings, andextends along sidewalls of the openings. The gate dielectric materialmay comprise any suitable composition or combination of compositions;and in some embodiments may comprise, consist essentially of, or consistof one or more of silicon dioxide, hafnium oxide, hafnium silicate,zirconium oxide, zirconium silicate, aluminum oxide, etc.

Referring to FIG. 7, gate dielectric 42 is removed from over uppersurfaces of tier 28, and from the bottoms of openings 30.

Referring to FIG. 8, semiconductor channel material 44 is formedadjacent gate dielectric 42 within openings 30, and fill material 46 isformed to fill the openings. The channel material along trunk regions 38extends vertically; or, in other words, extends substantiallyorthogonally relative to the horizontal surface 15 of base 14.

The semiconductor channel material 44 may comprise any suitablecomposition; and in some embodiments may comprise lightly-doped silicon.In some embodiments, the terms “heavily-doped” and “lightly-doped” areutilized in relation to one another rather than relative to specificconventional meanings. Accordingly, a “heavily-doped” region is moreheavily doped than an adjacent “lightly-doped” region, and may or maynot comprise heavy doping in a conventional sense. Similarly, the“lightly-doped” region is less heavily doped than the adjacent“heavily-doped” region, and may or may not comprise light doping in aconventional sense. In some embodiments, the term “lightly-doped” refersto semiconductor material having less than or equal to about 10¹⁸atoms/cm³ of dopant, and the term “heavily-doped” refers tosemiconductor material having greater than or equal to about 10¹⁹atoms/cm³ of dopant. The semiconductor channel material 44 andheavily-doped semiconductor material 18 may be majority doped to a samedopant type as one another (i.e., both may be p-type majority doped insome example embodiments, and both may be n-type majority doped in otherexample embodiments).

The fill material 46 may comprise any suitable composition orcombination of compositions; and in some embodiments may comprise,consist essentially of, or consist of silicon dioxide. The fill materialmay be formed as a spin-on dielectric which is subsequently densified.

Referring to FIG. 9, assembly 10 is subjected to planarization (forinstance, chemical-mechanical planarization) to form a planarized uppersurface 47. The planarized upper surface extends across material of tier28, the semiconductor channel material 44, and the fill material 46.

The semiconductor channel material 44 forms upwardly-opening containers54 at the processing stage of FIG. 9, with such containers having ridges48 which extend over upper surfaces of the vertical trunk regions 38 ofreplaceable material structures 36.

Referring to FIG. 10, materials 50 and 52 are formed over planarizedsurface 47. In some embodiments, material 50 may correspond to an etchstop material, such as, for example, a high-k material (e.g., hafniumoxide, etc.); and material 52 may correspond to silicon dioxide.

Referring to FIG. 11, openings 56 are formed to extend through materials50 and 52. Upper surfaces of the ridges 48 of the upwardly-openingcontainers 54 of semiconductor channel material 44 are exposed atbottoms of the openings 56.

Referring to FIG. 12, conductive material 58 is provided within openings56 to form conductive plugs 60. The conductive material 58 may compriseany suitable composition or combination of compositions. In someembodiments, the conductive material may comprise one or more of variousmetals (e.g., tungsten, titanium, etc.), metal-containing compositions(e.g., metal silicide, metal carbide, etc.), and/or conductively-dopedsecond material (e.g., conductively-doped silicon, conductively-dopedgermanium, etc.).

The conductive material 58 may be formed into the illustrated plugs 60with any suitable processing. For instance, the conductive material maybe formed across an upper surface of material 52, and within openings56; and then subjected to planarization to remove the conductivematerial 58 from over material 52 and form the plugs 60 within openings56.

The conductive plugs 60 are over and adjacent the ridges 48 ofsemiconductor channel material 44.

Referring to FIG. 13, the replaceable material 27 (FIG. 12) is replacedwith conductive material 62. Such conductive material may comprise anysuitable composition or combination of compositions. For instance, insome embodiments conductive material 62 may comprise one or more metals(e.g., tantalum, tungsten, etc.). The replacement of replaceablematerial 27 with conductive material 62 may occur at any suitableprocessing stage, and in some embodiments may occur at a processingstage other than the illustrated stage of FIG. 13. For instance, thereplacement may occur earlier than the illustrated processing stage insome embodiments. In other embodiments, the replacement may occur laterthan the illustrated processing stage.

The replacement of material 27 with conductive material 62 may compriseany suitable processing. For instance, material 27 may be removed withone or more suitable etches to leave voids in place of the horizontalstem regions 40 and vertical trunk regions 38 of the replaceablematerial structures 36 (FIG. 12). Subsequently, conductive material 62may be formed within the voids to create gating structures 66 in placeof the replaceable material structures 36 (FIG. 12). The gatingstructures 66 comprise vertical gating regions 68 in place of thevertical trunk regions 38 (FIG. 12), and comprise horizontalinterconnecting regions 70 in place of the horizontal stem regions 40(FIG. 12). In some embodiments, an interconnecting region 70 may beconsidered to extend from a side of a gating region 68 which is oppositeto a side adjacent channel material 44.

The conductive material 62 may be flowed along the horizontalinterconnecting regions 70, and then into the vertical gating regions68. As discussed previously, it may be advantageous that the verticalgating regions have thicknesses less than or equal to the thicknesses ofthe horizontal interconnecting regions so that the gating regions becomecompletely filled with conductive material 62 prior to theinterconnecting regions becoming filled and pinching off further flowinto the gating regions. The conductive material 62 is a common andcontinuous material extending throughout the gating regions 68 andinterconnecting regions 70.

In some embodiments, the assembly 10 of FIG. 13 may be considered tocomprise the gating structures 66 extending within a stack ofalternating first and second insulating materials (with tiers 20 and 24being first insulating material, and tier 22 being second insulatingmaterial). Bottom surfaces of the gating regions 68 are along the lowertiers 20 of the first insulative material, bottom surfaces of theinterconnecting regions 70 are along the higher tiers 24 of the firstinsulative material, and intermediate tiers 22 of the second insulativematerial are between the lower and higher tiers of the first insulativematerial and are adjacent sides of the gating regions 68.

FIG. 13 shows boundary regions 72 (diagrammatically illustrated withdashed-lines) within the semiconductor channel material 44. Suchboundary regions result from out-diffusing dopant from the heavily-dopedsemiconductor material 18 into lower regions of the semiconductorchannel material 44. The out-diffusing forms heavily-doped bottomregions 74 of the semiconductor channel material 44 while leavingless-heavily-doped upper regions 76 of the semiconductor channelmaterial 44. The boundary regions 72 are where the heavily-doped bottomregions interface with the less-heavily-doped upper regions (e.g., maycorrespond to p+/p-junctions, p+/p junctions, p/p-junctions,n+/n-junctions, n+/n junctions, n/n-junctions, etc.). Although theout-diffusion of dopant from heavily-doped semiconductor material 18into the bottom regions of channel material 44 is described withreference to FIG. 13, such out-diffusion may occur at any suitableprocessing stage after formation of the channel material 44 (i.e., theprocessing stage of FIG. 8), and may occur at a single processing stage,or may occur as a sum of out-diffusions across multiple processingstages. The out-diffusion may be induced with, for example, thermalprocessing.

FIG. 14 shows an expanded view of a region of FIG. 13, and shows aboundary region 72 between a heavily-doped region 74 of channel material44, and a lightly-doped region 76 of the channel material 44. The symbol“(+)” is utilized in the heavily-doped region 74 and the symbol “(−)” isutilized in the lightly-doped region 76 to further indicate that region74 is relatively heavily-doped as compared to the region 76.

A difficulty that may occur during the out-diffusion into channelmaterial 44 is that the boundary region 72 may occur at different depthsacross a plurality of structures. Numerous mechanisms may influence therate of out-diffusion into channel material 44, including, for example,crystal size and orientation, temperature, etc. An advantage of theprocessing of FIGS. 1-13 is that the gating structures 66 have gatingregions 68 with large vertical dimensions as compared to the thicknessesof the interconnect regions 70. FIG. 14 shows an example gatingstructure 66 having a gating region 68 with a large vertical dimension Das compared to the thickness T of the interconnect region 70. In otherwords, the interconnecting region 70 is narrower than the gating region68. The dimension D may be considered to be a length of the gatingregion. In the illustrated embodiments, the narrow interconnectingregions 70 are approximately centered relative to the wide gatingregions 68. In other embodiments, the interconnecting regions may beoff-center relative to the gating regions.

The large vertical dimension D may enable the gating region 68 tooverlap both the lightly-doped region 74 and the heavily-doped region 76of channel material 44 in spite of the potential variation of thelocation of the boundary region 76. For instance, FIGS. 14A and 14Billustrate alternative locations of the boundary region 72 as comparedto FIG. 14, and show that the gating region 68 still maintains overlapwith segments of both the heavily-doped region 74 and the lightly-dopedregion 76 in each instance.

The gating region 68 and channel material 44 together form a transistordevice 80. Overlap with both the heavily-doped region 74 and thelightly-doped region 76 is desired in that each region provides animportant characteristic relative to the transistor device 80.Specifically, overlap with the lightly-doped region 76 provides anon-leaky “OFF” characteristic for the transistor device, and overlapwith the heavily-doped region provides leaky GIDL characteristics forthe transistor device.

FIGS. 15 and 15A illustrate an alternative transistor device 80aillustrating a problem avoided utilizing the devices 80 of FIGS. 13 and14. Specifically, the device 80a of FIGS. 15 and 15A only has theinterconnect region 70, and lacks the vertically-extending gating region68. Thus, an edge 71 of interconnect region 70 functions as the gatingregion. Such edge is relatively narrow as compared to the gating region68 of FIG. 14, and thus variation of the location of boundary region 72causes the gating region to lose overlap relative to either thelightly-doped region 76 or the heavily-doped region 74. The device ofFIG. 15 has overlap between a gating region and a lightly-doped region76, but lacks overlap relative to the heavily-doped region 74.Accordingly, such device may have a non-leaky “OFF” characteristic, butlacks a desired leaky GIDL characteristic. In contrast, the device ofFIG. 15A has overlap relative to heavily-doped region 74, and lacksoverlap relative to lightly-doped region 76. Such device may havedesired GIDL characteristics, but lacks a desired “OFF” characteristic.

In some embodiments, the transistors 80 of FIG. 13 may be utilized asselect devices in memory arrays, such as, for example, three-dimensionalNAND memory arrays.

FIG. 16 shows assembly 10 comprising columns 81 and 83 ofvertically-stacked memory cells 82. The memory cells are electricallyconnected in series to channel material 44 of the select devicescomprising transistors 80, and specifically are electrically connectedto the channel material 44 through the conductive material 58 of plugs60. The memory cells may be any suitable memory cells of athree-dimensional memory array.

FIG. 17 shows a portion of assembly 10 in a configuration in whichmemory cells 82 specifically correspond to vertically-stacked memorycells of an example embodiment NAND memory array. The illustratedconfiguration comprises control gate material 84 alternating withinsulating material 85; and comprises memory cells 82 which includecharge-storage material 86, charge-blocking material 88, gate dielectric90, and channel material 92.

The charge-storage material 86 may comprise any suitable composition orcombination of compositions; and in some embodiments may comprisefloating gate material (for instance, doped or undoped silicon) orcharge-trapping material (for instance, silicon nitride, metal dots,etc.).

The charge-blocking material 88 may comprise any suitable composition orcombination of compositions; and in some embodiments may comprise one ormore of silicon dioxide, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, siliconnitride, etc.

The gate dielectric 90 may comprise any suitable composition orcombination of compositions; and in some embodiments may comprise, forexample, silicon dioxide.

The channel material 44 may be referred to as first channel material,and the channel material 92 may be referred to as second channelmaterial (or vice versa). The first and second channel materials may beelectrically coupled to one another through the conductive material 58of plug 60. Accordingly, the memory cells 82 may be connected in serieswith a select device corresponding to transistor 80. In someembodiments, the conductive structure 12 may be a source line, and theselect device may be a source-side select (SGS) device.

The gating devices and memory arrays described herein may beincorporated into electronic systems. Such electronic systems may beused in, for example, memory modules, device drivers, power modules,communication modems, processor modules, and application-specificmodules, and may include multilayer, multichip modules. The electronicsystems may be any of a broad range of systems, such as, for example,cameras, wireless devices, displays, chip sets, set top boxes, games,lighting, vehicles, clocks, televisions, cell phones, personalcomputers, automobiles, industrial control systems, aircraft, etc.

Unless specified otherwise, the various materials, substances,compositions, etc. described herein may be formed with any suitablemethodologies, either now known or yet to be developed, including, forexample, atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD),physical vapor deposition (PVD), etc.

Both of the terms “dielectric” and “electrically insulative” may beutilized to describe materials having insulative electrical properties.The terms are considered synonymous in this disclosure. The utilizationof the term “dielectric” in some instances, and the term “electricallyinsulative” in other instances, may be to provide language variationwithin this disclosure to simplify antecedent basis within the claimsthat follow, and is not utilized to indicate any significant chemical orelectrical differences.

The particular orientation of the various embodiments in the drawings isfor illustrative purposes only, and the embodiments may be rotatedrelative to the shown orientations in some applications. The descriptionprovided herein, and the claims that follow, pertain to any structuresthat have the described relationships between various features,regardless of whether the structures are in the particular orientationof the drawings, or are rotated relative to such orientation.

The cross-sectional views of the accompanying illustrations only showfeatures within the planes of the cross-sections, and do not showmaterials behind the planes of the cross-sections in order to simplifythe drawings.

When a structure is referred to above as being “on” or “against” anotherstructure, it can be directly on the other structure or interveningstructures may also be present. In contrast, when a structure isreferred to as being “directly on” or “directly against” anotherstructure, there are no intervening structures present. When a structureis referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another structure,it can be directly connected or coupled to the other structure, orintervening structures may be present. In contrast, when a structure isreferred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” toanother structure, there are no intervening structures present.

Some embodiments include an integrated assembly which includes asemiconductor channel material having a boundary region where amore-heavily-doped region interfaces with a less-heavily-doped region.The more-heavily-doped region and the less-heavily-doped region aremajority doped with a same dopant type. The integrated assembly includesa gating structure adjacent the semiconductor channel material andhaving a gating region and an interconnecting region of a common andcontinuous material. The gating region has a length extending across asegment of the more-heavily-doped region, a segment of theless-heavily-doped region, and the boundary region. The interconnectingregion extends outwardly from the gating region on a side opposite thesemiconductor channel region, and is narrower than the length of thegating region.

Some embodiments include an integrated assembly havingvertically-stacked memory cells over a select device. Firstsemiconductor channel material is along the memory cells. Secondsemiconductor channel material is comprised by the select device. Thesecond semiconductor channel material comprises a boundary region wherea more-heavily-doped region interfaces with a less-heavily-doped region.Both the more-heavily-doped region and the less-heavily-doped region aremajority doped with a same dopant type. A gating structure is comprisedby the select device. The gating structure is adjacent the secondsemiconductor channel material and has a gating region and aninterconnecting region of a common and continuous material. The gatingregion has a length extending across a segment of the more-heavily-dopedregion, a segment of the less-heavily-doped region, and the boundaryregion. The interconnecting region extends outwardly from the gatingregion on a side opposite the second semiconductor channel region, andis narrower than the length of the gating region.

Some embodiments include a method of forming an integrated assembly. Astack is formed over heavily-doped semiconductor material. The stackcomprises, in ascending order, a first tier, a second tier; a thirdtier; a first level of replaceable material; and a fourth tier. Openingsare formed through the stack to the first tier. A second level ofreplaceable material is formed to line sidewalls and bottoms of theopenings. The second level of replaceable material is anisotropicallyetched to form spacers along sidewalls of the openings and to exposebottom surfaces of the openings along the first tier. The spacers joinwith the first level of replaceable material to form replaceablematerial structures having stem regions extending horizontally outwardfrom vertical trunk regions. The openings are extended to theheavily-doped semiconductor material. Gate dielectric is formed alongsidewalls of the extended openings. Semiconductor channel material isformed along the gate dielectric. The semiconductor channel material islightly doped as compared to the heavily-doped semiconductor materialand is majority doped to a same dopant type as the heavily-dopedsemiconductor material. Dopant is out-diffused from the heavily-dopedsemiconductor material into the semiconductor channel material to formheavily-doped bottom regions of the semiconductor channel material whileleaving less-heavily-doped upper regions of the semiconductor channelmaterial. The replaceable material is replaced with conductive materialto form gating structures. The trunk regions of the replaceable materialstructures become gating regions of the gating structures, and the stemregions of the replaceable material structures become interconnectingregions of the gating structures. The gating regions of the gatingstructures are adjacent segments of the heavily-doped bottom regions ofthe semiconductor channel material and are also adjacent segments of thelightly-doped upper regions of the semiconductor channel material.

In compliance with the statute, the subject matter disclosed herein hasbeen described in language more or less specific as to structural andmethodical features. It is to be understood, however, that the claimsare not limited to the specific features shown and described, since themeans herein disclosed comprise example embodiments. The claims are thusto be afforded full scope as literally worded, and to be appropriatelyinterpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.

1. A method of forming an integrated assembly, comprising: forming asubstantially vertically extending semiconductor channel structure;doping the first semiconductor channel structure to form a channelregion having a more-heavily-doped region interfacing aless-heavily-doped region at a boundary region; and forming a gatingstructure adjacent the semiconductor channel structure and having agating region and an interconnecting region of a common and continuousmaterial, the gating region having a length extending across a segmentof the more-heavily-doped region, a segment of the less-heavily-dopedregion, and the boundary region, the interconnecting region extendinglaterally outwardly from the gating region on a side opposite the firstsemiconductor channel material, and being narrower than the length ofthe gating region.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the more-heavilydoped region and the less-heavily doped region are majority doped tohave the same majority carriers.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein theinterconnecting region of the gating structure is approximately centeredrelative to the length of the gating region.
 4. The integrated assemblyof claim 1 wherein the interconnecting region and the gating region areabout the same thickness as one another.
 5. The integrated assembly ofclaim 1 wherein the interconnecting region is thicker than the gatingregion.
 6. A method of forming an integrated assembly, comprising:forming a stack over heavily-doped semiconductor material; the stackcomprising a first level of replaceable material over a first tier andsecond tier; forming openings through the stack to the first tier;forming spacers along sidewalls of the openings, the spacers joiningwith the first level of replaceable material to form replaceablematerial structures having stem regions extending horizontally outwardfrom substantially vertical trunk regions; extending the openings to theheavily-doped semiconductor material; forming gate dielectric alongsidewalls of the extended openings; forming a semiconductor channelmaterial along the gate dielectric; the semiconductor channel materialbeing lightly doped as compared to the heavily-doped semiconductormaterial and being majority doped to a same dopant type as theheavily-doped semiconductor material; out-diffusing dopant from theheavily-doped semiconductor material into the semiconductor channelmaterial to form heavily-doped bottom regions of the semiconductorchannel material while leaving less-heavily-doped upper regions of thesemiconductor channel material; and replacing the replaceable materialstructures with a conductive material to form gating structures, thetrunk regions of the replaceable material structures becoming gatingregions of the gating structures, and the stem regions of thereplaceable material structures becoming interconnecting regions of thegating structures.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the second tiercomprises a high-k oxide.
 8. The method of claim 6 wherein the stackfurther comprises a third tier disposed between the second tier and thefirst level of replaceable material.
 9. The method of claim 6 whereinthe gating structures form a plurality of select gates of selectdevices, and further comprising forming memory cells electricallyconnected in series with the select devices.
 10. The method of claim 6wherein the replaceable material is silicon nitride.
 11. The method ofclaim 6 wherein conductive material comprises metal.